Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple Priced Itself Out of Shrinking Chinese Smartphone Market

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 161 posts

Re: Apple Priced Itself Out of Shrinking Chinese Smartphone Market

#141

Post by scarface74 »

izacus wrote: post #107
gwright wrote: post #20

Why is the comparison always done to the newest, high end Apple phones? The iPhone 7 is still sold for $550 unlocked and $23/month on installment in the US. I assume it is also more reasonably priced in China as compared to the high end XS phones. You don't have to purchase the most expensive iPhone to get a high quality phone from Apple. Attributing the decreased demand in China to the price of the most exclusive ph…

Because they can buy a brand new Xiaomi Mi8 for 400$ and have a high-end phone not something 4 generations old. And they do - Xiaomi has incredible growth.

Seeing that the iPhone 6s is faster than most “modern” Android phones and it isn’t even sold anymore. What does that say about modern Android phones?

Re: Apple Priced Itself Out of Shrinking Chinese Smartphone Market

#142

Post by scarface74 »

spinach wrote: post #65
plg wrote: post #35

and that's OK Apple is not aiming for mass market. In the same way that Chanel or Coach is not aiming for mass market.

Apple has been aiming for the mass market though, even if at the slightly pricier end of it. How exactly have they not been? Though it does seem from here on out, they might try to shrink their market and focus more on luxury products.

The average selling price of an iPhone is over 3 times that of an Android phone...not exactly “slightly pricier”.

Re: Apple Priced Itself Out of Shrinking Chinese Smartphone Market

#143

Post by Apocryphon »

scarface74 wrote: post #139
Apocryphon wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't an iOS vs. Android thing. Plenty of people would be happy with an SE 2, or even a 8S (a proper iPhone 9) that retains the home button and/or brings back the earphone jack. This drive for more pixels, more cameras, less buttons, and thinner size- it's hitting diminishing returns unrelated to privacy or security.

And you can still buy an iPhone 7 for $449 and the iPhone 8/8 plus is still for sell...

And in two years?

Re: Apple Priced Itself Out of Shrinking Chinese Smartphone Market

#144

Post by scarface74 »

Apocryphon wrote: post #143
scarface74 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you can still buy an iPhone 7 for $449 and the iPhone 8/8 plus is still for sell...

And in two years?

Well,

Seeing that the iPhone 5s was introduced 5 years ago and is still getting updates, the 7 should still be getting updates until 2022.

Re: Apple Priced Itself Out of Shrinking Chinese Smartphone Market

#145

Post by purplezooey »

nostromo wrote: post #8

That's part of it, but the bigger issue is China is rapidly slowing down. Otherwise Apple would be seeing shrinking sales in other regions, which according to Cook has not been the case. WSJ today posted this alarming chart of Chinese consumption-tax revenue: https://i.imgur.com/2LzUKrz.png https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-economic-downturn-takes-...

Do we trust statistics from a single party system, however. Could be a political move.

Re: Apple Priced Itself Out of Shrinking Chinese Smartphone Market

#146

Post by woranl »

Today’s Apple is like what Microsoft used to be. iPhone X this and iPhone X that. Just like the many editions of Windows. It’s a brand dilution and it almost feels like “ let’s milk it when you still can”. It’s damaging to the brand. This is what companies do when they are no longer run by product people.

Re: Apple Priced Itself Out of Shrinking Chinese Smartphone Market

#147

Post by dingaling »

threeseed wrote: post #69
tyfon wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe not $300 but I can get a sony xperia xz2 compact for 3000 NOK ($345ish). Sony makes the cameras in many other phones including iphone. I have the larger version, but my wife has this and it takes excellent photos.

Sony makes the camera sensor. The lens comes from another supplier. And as the Pixel 3 has shown the software makes far more of a difference to the quality of the photo then the hardware.

> The lens comes from another supplier.

The physical focal length of a phone lens is about 3 to 4.5mm. There's not a lot of light-physics you cam do in that much space. Even a cheap point-and-shoot fixed-lens camera will be superior and will cost much less than the phone upgrade increment.

Re: Apple Priced Itself Out of Shrinking Chinese Smartphone Market

#148

Post by ksec »

nostromo wrote: post #8

That's part of it, but the bigger issue is China is rapidly slowing down. Otherwise Apple would be seeing shrinking sales in other regions, which according to Cook has not been the case. WSJ today posted this alarming chart of Chinese consumption-tax revenue: https://i.imgur.com/2LzUKrz.png https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-economic-downturn-takes-...

>https://i.imgur.com/2LzUKrz.png

I still have a had time finding the source of those data shown in the graph. Something isn't right. And remember those big drop are all happening in November and December period, because that is when Chinese are saving up for their Lunar New Year spending.

I don't buy the story of Apple down 50% YoY only because of Macros. If that was the case it would have shown in 17, and 18 as well. If Macros were worst other part of Services Sector would have shown. Single Days wouldn't break record, Mi, Huawei, Vivo, OnePlus, Oppo wont affected domestically.

Re: Apple Priced Itself Out of Shrinking Chinese Smartphone Market

#149

Post by continuations »

nostromo wrote: post #8

That's part of it, but the bigger issue is China is rapidly slowing down. Otherwise Apple would be seeing shrinking sales in other regions, which according to Cook has not been the case. WSJ today posted this alarming chart of Chinese consumption-tax revenue: https://i.imgur.com/2LzUKrz.png https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-economic-downturn-takes-...

> Otherwise Apple would be seeing shrinking sales in other regions

Apple does see shrinking sales in other regions:

"iPhone shipments in India have dropped 40 percent so far in 2018 when compared with 2017"[1]

China and India are the 2 largest developing economies in the world. It's no surprise that Apple's high price strategy has struggled there. Charging $1,000 for a phone might be viable in developed economies, that's not the case in developing countries like China & India.

[1]https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/12/18/declining-iphone-...

Re: Apple Priced Itself Out of Shrinking Chinese Smartphone Market

#150

Post by Redoubts »

spiritcat wrote: post #110
FridgeSeal wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Component quality, build quality, data security and privacy and length of support/updates. No matter how much money I pay for an Android phone, I have to fight with it to stop my data being harvested by everything from the very OS up. Sure, I can get decent quality cameras and build quality on Android phones but I’m either paying a stack of money for the likes of a Samsung or I’m paying for something from some sketch…

Yup, Android is sketch and Apple apparently just doesn't want my business. Ah well.

Well, you can still buy last years iPhone from apple for much cheaper...
Post reply on HN